12. Plan for Study - The
question regarding planning ahead, coming at the end in the old card,
is included under each of the three areas in the new card and is
tailored for each.

13. Why is the New Card
Green? - ...green is the color of growing things, and we want to grow
in grace. ...the U.S. card is green for all immigrants. ...Christians
are just pilgrims (immigrants) passing through. We "belong" by virtue
of our baptism, but heaven is our permanent home.

New
Possibilities, Doug Burrows
- In the south of Arizona at Tucson with the help of Phoenix we have a
new Lutheran Cursillo movement.

Minutes
of NLS Conference Call January 23, 1996

Myra Hogan - the response
to a request for lists of pilgrims moving from one area to another has
been poor.

Randy reported that he and Ellie Henning
will attend the Kairos meeting, their 20th anniversary, February 24th.
Each executive board member had been assigned secretariats to contact
to see how they are doing and how we might help them.

Doug reported that
Syracuse is building a base and that they will have the help of the
local Emmaus and Cursillo movements. Gerry Hudson is trying to get a
Billings, Montana movement going.

Pastor Carroll felt that
Iowa's weakness is their Ultreya and they are going to get some help
from Minnesota.

Randy wants us to think
about how we think the NLS should participate in the starting up of new
movements, like Utah, for example, other than just giving funds to help.

Conexiones
Volume 15, Number 2 Pre-Annual Meeting Edition May, 1996

Welcome
to Texas!, Tim Johnson
- On Saturday morning and afternoon, as a special treat for all 4th Day
renewal movements, Yohann Anderson will be with us for a very special
forum presentation on praise music as it relates to the Via de Cristo
movement.

What
Are the Strong Points of the New Group Reunion Card? Rev. Peter Setzer
- Now let us examine the third panel of the new revised card that
encourages us to ACTION.

1. Our Action - Our piety
and our study, if centered in the saving Christ, will propel us into
Apostolic Action. The word "Apostle" in Greek literally means, "one who
is sent".

2. What Have You Done
this Week to Share Christ with the World so that Others Might Know His
Saving Love? - The method urged in Via de Cristo: "Make a friend; be a
friend, bring that friend to Christ."

3. How Have You Witnessed
to the Gospel In :Family, Profession, Workplace, Total Environment? -
Via de Cristo, historically, emphasizes Christianizing our
environments.

4. In What Way Were You
Successful? In What Way Were You Disappointed? - ...much is to be
gained in assessing the effectiveness of one's attempts to witness to
the grace we have received.

5. What Have You Done to
Bear the Burdens of Others in Obedience to Christ? - There are two
forms of Action: Missionary Witness and Loving Service.

6. What Was the Moment of
Your Most Burning Witness? Most Sacrificial Service? - ...carries out
an action-oriented form of the more familiar question, "What was your
closest moment to Christ?"

7. What Is Your Plan for
Next Week to Enlarge Your Witness and Service? - Planning holds our
feet to the fire. It urges us to take initiative so that next week I
will not be caught again with no significant action to share with my
friends.

8. Plan a Reunion Group
Activity. - This is not intended to be a social event. ...common
helping ministry in the community, a joint witness project

9. Prayer of Thanksgiving
- This prayer is identical to the one in the old card.

10. Prayers/Altar Visit -
Groups that do so witness that the prayer experience is more intense
when kneeling "on holy ground" so rich is spiritual symbolism.

11. Praise, Thanksgiving,
Confession, Intercession and Petition - If all persons will keep these
five dimensions of prayer in mind, they will find their prayer life
expanding in many directions, especially as they are applied to the
matters just shared in the reunion group.

12. Lord's Prayer and
Sharing of the Peace - What a great way to end prayers at the altar!

13. Christ is Counting on
You! - The Via de Cristo seal is in the background. Our National
Lutheran Secretariat of Via de Cristo seal is similar to Luther's seal.

14.
Name:__________Weekend Table and Date: __________ - ...the emphasis in
the Fourth Day is on the reunion group, not the weekend table members
(as on previous card). ...stores our weekend table name for hand
reference.

15. Idea: - Why not take
the three articles on the new Group Reunion card and read through them
with your reunion group?

We urge all of our
secretariats to use a common card upon which we can all agree as an
expression of our unity.

Perusing
the Newsletters
- From the Almost Heaven "Lifeline" I read the following:

"The news I bring comes
with some regret and sadness. Almost Heaven, Wheeling, West Virginia
Via de Cristo Secretariat has concluded that we no longer have a viable
ministry and that it is time to disband. Obviously this was not an easy
decision, nor was it a quickly-made decision."

North
Carolina Synod of ELCA endorses Via de Cristo
- At its quarterly meeting held March 23, 1996 the Synod Council
officially approved the endorsement of Via de Cristo and the related
program for teens, "Teens Encounter Christ."

April
23, 1996 Conference Call

Randy Mullin and Ellie
Henning represented our NLS on February 24th in Jacksonville, Florida.
They had an opportunity to interview, through an interpreter, Eduardo
Bonnin.

Randy came away feeling that it is time we
do what is legally proper and begin to correct our publications and
materials so that we will be in compliance with copyright laws.

re: Pilgrim's Guides - it
was decided to use a tape (an overlay) to convey the correct
information in the red ones until they are all used.

Randy said that he had
promised to have all our literature "correct" in two years.(usage of
"Cursillo")

New
Member Outreach, Doug Burrows
- he has had a request also, from a group in Madeira, CA, the central
valley region. They have been helped by the Southern California
Lutheran Cursillo and the Episcopal Cursillo and they feel it is time
be out on their own.

Also interested is a
group in Pennsylvania headed by Richard Hofstetter.

Doug said that there is a
movement beginning in Helsinki, Finland. They are receiving help from
the Carolinas. Pastor Kahl and Pastor Jacobsen (pastor of the church in
Helsinki) met together for weekend #5 in Moscow.

As soon as the present green cards are used
up, the lighter shade of green will be used as some have complained the
darker color is too hard to read.

The
"Salt 'n 'sota Connection
- We were 40 Cursillistas from all over Minnesota who traveled by bus
to Salt Lake City Via de Cristo #2. ...at the site church, Good
Shepherd Lutheran in Sandy, The SLC weekends became known as the "Salt
'n 'sota Connection".

NLS Meeting #19 July 25-27, 1996

University of Dallas Dallas, Texas

Minutes
of Wednesday Executive Board meeting
- Randy asked if we felt that we should be putting anything in the
newspapers about our meetings? John suggested that we might submit
something to the local paper and that we will suggest this to Tim
Johnson.

John moved that there be
a by-laws change to read that the Spiritual Director of the National
Lutheran Secretariat be a Lutheran Pastor and that he be one who is
present and has served as a delegate in the past.

Tim reported that Johann
Anderson felt that putting together a Via de Cristo songbook at this
time would be cost-prohibitive.

Myra moved that we
authorize funds to cover the time and cost of transportation and
lodging for the two to meet (Pastors Lang and Schmidlin) and finish the
Leader's Manual: the amount to be $15.00 per hour per person with a cap
of $450.00, plus the cost of transportation and lodging. Motion passed.

Regarding the Spiritual
Director's Manual, Carroll said that the Spiritual Directors' committee
will discuss what should go in it, etc. and if they will make him the
author, he will finish it.

Minutes
of Annual Meeting
- Randy welcomed everyone to University of Dallas. also welcoming
everyone were Monsignor Joseph, Interim President and Bishop Mark
Herbener of the North Texas/North Louisiana Synod. Tim Johnson,
Chairman of the Host Committee, explained some of the logistics,
locations, etc. of the campus to everyone.

Doug Burrows, Vice
President of Outreach, reported that we have added a new secretariat in
Utah.

Fourth
Day Movements
- Ellie Henning and Randy Mullin attended a meeting in Jacksonville,
Florida in February of representatives from the Catholic and Episcopal
Cursillos, the Emmaus, Kairos, Tres Dias, Chrysalis and Via de Cristo
movements. Ellie reported that she and Randy were privileged to have an
interview with Eduardo Bonnin, the founder of the Cursillo Movement,
from Mallorca, Spain.

Randy added that we need
to begin to let go of all Cursillo "words" and "materials" which belong
to that movement.

Presentations
of bids for 1998 NLS Annual Meeting:
Julie Miller extended an invitation for the 1998 NLS Annual Meeting to
be held in Central Michigan in the Saginaw, Bay City, Midland area.
Dick Neitzel presented his bid from Wisconsin along with Carole Neitzel
and Pastor Paul Bauman.

Following a vote by the
delegation, it was decided that we will hold our 1998 Annual Meeting in
Wisconsin.

Operations
and Finance Committee:
The matter of Regional Directors is before the New Movement Outreach
and Revitalization Committees.

New Secretariat dues
should be: $50 at end of first year, $150 at end of second, $250 (or a
minimum of $1.00 per new application for membership) at the end of the
third year.

Motion that the Executive
Committee be empowered to appoint a three-member committee to review
and recommend changes to the Constitution and By-Laws and report back
to the Executive Committee and then to the forum. Passed without
dissent.

...moves that the NLS
Board authorize Tim Johnson to produce a short length, multimedia
presentation to acquaint potential participants with Via de Cristo for
a cost not to exceed $3,000.00 ...the intent would be for the Executive
Board to appoint one lay person and one Executive Board person to
review the video before production. Motion passed without dissent.

A motion that the NLS
Board authorize the establishment of an internet site at a cost of up
to $500.00. Passed without dissent.

The committee moved that
the term "Via de Cristo" be registered as a trademark in the U.S.
Trademark and Patent Office by the National Lutheran Secretariat.
Passed with one dissent.

Spiritual
Directors Dialogue
- Stations of the Cross: The pastors recommend that secretariats not
use "Everyone's Way of the Cross" and "Every Man's Way of the Cross,"
(these are unredeemable) and asked that we not use: "This is the way it
Was" in its present form. They recommend "The Biblical Way of the
Cross" and that the kneeling be omitted. There are other acceptable
"Ways." Some of those are "The Way to the Cross according to St. Luke,"
"Via Delorosa - The Way of Sorrows," "The Way of the Cross" the
Minnesota expression and "Steps of Christ."

The New Revised Standard
Version of the Bible is recommended for use on the weekends. The
language is traditional and inclusive.

We recommend that
Spiritual Directors consider it acceptable for AIMS (Associates in
Ministry) serve as Spiritual Directors on the weekends, assuming that
they do not preside at Holy Communion.

New
Movement Outreach Committee
- In addition, the NLS should pay travel and registration fee for one
lay delegate and one spiritual director to attend the first NLS
conference after the new movement is created.

That the NLS Executive
Board will appoint one or more persons to assist the Vice President of
Outreach in working with Secretariats in need of help, New Movement
Outreach and other duties as needed.

Revitalization
of the Secretariat Committee
- ...develop a draft copy of a "Wellness Checklist". This document
would be used to gather information from local Secretariats to help NLS
determine any areas of concern or tell-tale signs of developing
problems.

..change the name to
"Information Survey".

1. The NLS Executive
Board or the Vice President of Outreach will appoint one or more
persons to assist in working with the Secretariats in need of help.
(This was presented as a joint motion with the New Movement Outreach
and passed).

Publications
- The new reunion card color will be changed to a lighter green for
easier reading after current stock of dark green cards is depleted.

Randy Mullin has provided
transcripts of most of the past NLS forums from the last 5 years to
Jack Packer, totaling almost 50 talks. Current and future speakers are
being asked for a hard copy of their talk to ease this task. It was
suggested that a copy be provided on floppy disk also. It was moved and
seconded that the following disclaimer be added to each transcript:
"This transcription of the tape made during the presentation was typed
exactly as presented without editorial changes. The content of this
talk is the responsibility of the speaker and does not necessarily
reflect the policy or opinions of the NLS." The motion passed.

5. Leaders Manual Work is
continuing on a Leaders Manual which would be similar in form to the
Cursillo version. It would consist of two parts:

a. Essentials of Via de
Cristo b. Team Formation Manual

The motion was made and
seconded to recommend to the NLS Annual meeting that $1000 plus
expenses be budgeted to Rev. Carroll Lang and Rev. Paul Schmidlin to
complete the Leaders Manual. The motion passed.

New NLS brochure: A new
NLS brochure was passed out for review. It was moved and seconded that
a packet of 25 be sent to each secretariat along with a letter
requesting feedback on its possible use. The motion passed

How
to Use Music on a Weekend
- It was the consensus that, with judicious editing to reflect
terminology appropriate to all our diverse Secretariats, and with
text-box emphasis of some of the major points, these existing resources
could provide a booklet which would relay suggestions and direction on
the appropriate use of music for our three-day weekends. The intended
recipient would be music leaders in the communities and on weekend
teams/staffs.

The two sections have
been edited and compiled into one document attached to this report. The
Music Committee moves that this document be submitted to the
Publications Committee for publications in booklet form as soon as
possible.

How
to get Proper Licensing
-

Motions proposed by the
Music Committee:

Motion #1 - The Music
Committee moves that the document, "Music on the Weekend/Music Leader"
be submitted to the Publications Committee for publication in booklet
form as soon as possible. Motion passed.

Motion #2 - Accordingly,
the Music Committee moves that the NLS purchase enough copies of the
attached (also copyrighted) brochure entitled "Copyright Law and the
Local Church", at a cost of $9.95 plus $1.95 for postage and handling,
furnish this guideline to each member Secretariat, and each new member
Secretariat which may be added to our numbers hereafter, and add a line
on the Annual Report (Survey) form for each Secretariat asking about
their copyright compliance. Motion passed.

Hosting
an Annual Meeting

The following motions and
recommendations were proposed by the "Hosting an Annual Meeting
Committee:

Motion #3 - The Committee
moves that the NLS establish a scholarship fund for current or
prospective Secretariats who need financial assistance for those unable
to attend the annual meeting. The Executive Board will award
scholarships at their discretion. Our recommended start-up amount would
be $2500.00.

Recommendation #1 - The
committee recommends that the NLS adopt the General Guidelines entitled
"The Covenant Between the NLS Executive Board and Local Host
Secretariat."

Recommendation #2 - The
committee recommends the NLS continue holding its annual meeting at an
on-site location that handles housing, meals and meeting
accommodations. Bob Wade and Ellie Henning reported that they will
continue working on a manual for the Host Committee.

Elections

Administrative Vice
President - Ed Hansen

Treasurer - Phil Lustig

Spiritual Director - Rev.
Richard Dow

Minutes
of Sunday NLS Business Meeting
- Randy would like to appoint the following to the Anniversary
Committee to plan next year's celebration: Joe Feagins, Rose Lundquist,
and Pastor Ed Simonsen. The NLS will defer "Delegate-at-Large" status
for them. They have been allotted $2500.00.

The Executive Board was
instructed by the delegation to appoint three members to the By-Laws
and Constitution Committee. Randy thought that it would be good to
appoint Fred Schneider and Pastor Larry Llewellyn and a third to be
announced and that we would supply them with the Articles of
Incorporation and the By-Laws and instruct them to begin work
immediately.

Randy read a letter from
Joe Feagins of the Central States (Kansas City) Secretariat saying that
they are disbanding with regrets. Their secretariat would like to
donate their entire balance remaining in their treasury to the NLS.
That amount is $1,982.86 of which they would like to pay dues of
$100.00 with the remainder going to the New Member Outreach Fund.

It was suggested that we
have a written agreement with Hosts committees concerning financial
arrangements.

The board felt that it
doesn't work too well to have a workshop going on during the business
meeting.

We felt that the NLS
should urge the secretariats to have insurance coverage and perhaps we
should ask how many do on the survey this year?

Conexiones
Volume 15, Number 3 Annual Meeting Edition

My personal perspective holds that Fred
Schneider, Dan Bobst, and Pat Dever provided us such a scholarly
perspective on 'Sponsoring' that you may all find reason to use it as a
reference text as you write future materials in your secretariats.

From
the VP of Outreach
- Upon returning home I had the pleasure of meeting with Rainbow
Secretariat of Western Maryland. There's a concerted effort to begin a
new movement and appears to be strong support from Rainbow.

Western North Carolina
and Atlanta will be meeting in Knoxville, TN on the weekend of
September 27-29 for the purpose of forming a new movement.

With the help of the Rev.
Dr. Leonard H. Bolick, assistant to the Bishop in N. Carolina, we are
making arrangements to send a 3 or 4 person team to meet with Rev.
Heikki Toivola in the Parish Work Association in the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Finland.

From
the Treasurer
- Dues - $6,193.00 Palanca - $8,053.40

Conexiones Volume 15,
Number 4 Winter Edition December, 1996

Minutes
of Conference Call September 3, 1996
The Finland group is receiving help from the Tres Dias movement in
Moscow.

Pastor Carroll said that
he and Paul Schmidlin will get together soon to finish the Leader's
Manual.

Doug will make a trip to
eastern Tennessee where a new Secretariat is being formed with the help
of Atlanta and Western North Carolina.

Minutes
of Mid-Year Executive Board Meeting
- After much discussion and input from those present, we felt that we
should continue to promote the "basics", that committee work should be
pro-active, that we need a clear purpose while allowing room for
diversification. We feel there should be time made to allow more
sharing....to see how differently we do things. There should be time to
sample the flavor of the local secretariats. Pastor Dow felt that we
are seeing a swing from what's good for us to what's good for all and
this gives a sense of maturity. We felt there could be improvement in
communicating our needs to our host committee while we understand their
desires. It was also decided that we need to keep certain standing
committees, such as Finance, New Movement/Revitalization and that we
should add "Host."

We will appoint a
chairman of a nominating committee who will select, with he help of the
board, two more to serve with him/her and that these be regionally
representative. A slate of one person will be selected and nominations
will be accepted from the floor.

Randy handed out
(attached) a letter from Alain Bashore concerning the trademark for Via
de Cristo. Through common consent we will move ahead on this as
commissioned by the assembly in July.

Newsletter deadlines are
as follows: December 1, 1996, February 14, 1997 and April 16, 1997.
Conference calls will be January 26, 1997, March 16, 1997 and May 18,
1997.

Randy wanted to know if
we should continue to represent the NLS in the other 4th Day Movement
Annual Meetings. The board authorized him to represent us. Randy will
appoint someone to go with him.

Doug said he has a
request from Minnesota to pick up Bolivia.

Pastor Carroll reported
that the Spiritual Director's Manual and the Leader's Manual still need
to be finished. He and Pastor Paul Schmidlin haven't gotten together
yet, but will. The largest part has been finished. The biggest job yet
to be done is to establish "universal" terms.

Rachel said that they are
waiting for a theme. They offered "And you shall renew the face of the
earth". The board agreed.

Rachel suggested that we
should recommend to Wisconsin, the next host city, that they send
several people to observe.

Rachel said that if there
is money left over, they will first pay back the NLS for their
advancement, next the local Secretariat and finally all else will go to
Outreach of the NLS.

Committees we considered
dropping this year were "Revitalization," "Music." These committees
have possibly served their purposes. Those that will be retained are:
Operations and Finance, and Pastoral and Public Relations, Promoting
the Video, New Member Orientation and Host..

Phil moved that we pay
for Jerry Vehrs' expense of travel to the NLS out of his operating
budget as we did last year, and that the NLS pay for Leona Fox's.

Doug moved that the NLS
purchase a laser printer for Pastor Carroll's use for the printing of
the Conexiones.

The
New Group Reunion Card, Rev. Peter Setzer
- Balance: The new card is arranged so that Piety, Study and Action,
basic components of the Christian life, area each assigned one of the
three inside panels of the card. As the card is "balanced" in
appearance, so we who are prone to over-emphasize one area to the
neglect of other areas, are to encourage one another to a healthy
balance in our daily discipleship.

Survey
to determine what factors influence people to attend Via de Cristo
- Clearly the Committee thought that either pastors or congregational
lay leaders who had attended VdC weekends would be most influential in
convincing other pastors to attend.

NLS Conference Call
January 31, 1997

Vice
President Outreach, Doug Burrows
- Doug reported that Northern Maryland (New Vineyard VdC) is now in
place and will send delegates this summer.

The group in Philadelphia
is holding Ultreyas and Doug wants to get more involved in that
endeavor. East Maryland will have a delegate at the Nationals. He
hasn't heard from Central California but he knows they are working on
getting a movement going.

Ultreyas are being held
in the Denver, Colorado area. They have a list of about 25 couples in
that area who are wanting to become involved. Doug had a call from
Gerry Hudson in Billings, Montana who feels a Lutheran Via de Cristo
could become a reality. The Episcopal Bishop has withdrawn his support
of the Episcopal Cursillo and he feels there is room for a new movement
now. Doug expects representation at the Annual Meeting. Randy is
working on Peoria, Illinois which will also likely be represented at
the Annual Meeting.

President,
Randy Mullin
- Randy said that he and Ellie will be representing our NLS at the
meeting of all fourth day movements in Winter Park next weekend.
....Randy has been pursuing changing our materials so that we don't
encroach on the term "Cursillo."

Phil moved that our NLS
should encourage all secretariats to become incorporated and that we
provide them with information to provide the means. Motion passed.

Conexiones Volume 16,
Number 1 Spring Edition May, 1997

..They'd
Come for you with a net!
- effective May 1, 1997 you can access (Via de Cristo website) at
http://www.viadecristo.org

Randy asked how we all
felt about asking a couple of people to dig up material for our archive
on how we got started, our history, etc.

Finland
Via de Cristo, 1997, Doug Burrows,
- The Rev. Dr. Peter Setzer, Pastor George Kahl, and I made this trip
to present the Via de Cristo to the Lutheran Church in Finland. Our
contact was the Rev. Heikki Toivola, Dir. of Parish Studies for the
Lutheran Church of Finland....As a result of the meetings there will be
a group of Finns coming to the United States to experience the weekend
first-hand and to determine the best way for us to begin the weekends
in Finland.

Peoria!,
Ron Millard
- God's blessing to all of you from Heart of Illinois Via de Cristo.
No, you haven't heard or seen our name before as we are still in the
process of getting organized as a new secretariat, serving basically
the Central Illinois area.

Many of our Cursillistas
attended their weekend at Heart of Florida VdC. We are also in close
proximity to Living Water VdC, and have received visits from Randy
Mullin and others.

I
Can Explain..., Rev. Carroll Lang
- Please forgive my tardiness in producing this newsletter. It will not
happen again in the foreseeable future. A new addition has been added
since we've moved - a new phone line with an 800 number and a FAX
machine to start an NLS 800 availability nation-wide.

New
Movement Outreach, Doug Burrows
- As we write there is the planning of a meeting with the pastors
leading a camp just outside the greater New York City area and we are
asked to present Via de Cristo to them. ....We will be hosting a
Finnish Delegation in Eastern Tennessee the weekend of September 27th,
and they will be making their first weekend. We need your prayers and
palanca for this effort.

Birth
of a Via de Cristo Movement,
Vol 1 Number 1 May, 1997

On April 27, 1997
Colorado Via de Cristo was born at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp. This
was the outgrowth of an enthusiastic group of Christians that have been
holding Ultreyas over the last year. During the organizational meeting
a Steering Committee was formed and coordinator positions defined.
Randy Mullin, the President of the National Lutheran Secretariat was on
hand. The weekend of activities that culminated in the creation of CVdC
included detailed discussions on the principles and tenants of Via de
Cristo as well as intense prayers for the movement. Out of the weekend
came a mission statement that will act as a guide to the Colorado
movement in the coming months.

NLS
Meeting #20
July 24-27, 1997

Lenoir-Rhyne
College Hickory, North Carolina

NLS
Executive Board July 23, 1997

Press
Release
- Should we have one? Perhaps it would be good to report what we are
doing to the "home-town" newspapers?

Archives
Committee
- Randy has felt for some time that we need someone to keep the
"history" of our movement, to keep copies of the forums, workshops,
keynote addresses, etc. He has asked Greg Steele to do this. Greg will
give us an estimate of the cost.

Copyright
of VDC
- Phil reported that the cost is more than we thought: $2000.

It was moved that we have
a national 800 # and that Pastor Carroll will do this for six months to
see how much it's used.

NLS
Business Meetings

Pastor Dow introduced the
Reverend Dr. Leonard H. Bolick, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, North Carolina Synod. Bishop Bolick, a Pilgrim,
spoke of his support of the Via de Cristo movement as he welcomed
delegates and visitors to the 1997 annual meeting of the National
Lutheran Secretariat. Randy introduced the Mayor of Hickory, William R.
McDonald III, a Cursillista, who said that it was an honor for the town
of Hickory and the Western North Carolina VDC to be hosting this annual
meeting. He presented Randy with the key to the city of Hickory.

We had two guests from
New York.

Randy asked the following
long-time members of the NLS and past presidents to please stand and be
recognized: Luther Piel, Wayne Ford, Pastor Ed Simonsen, Ellie Henning,
Hilde Hildebrandt, Pastor Peter Setzer, Judy Lang, Pastor Carroll Lang,
Leona Fox, and Wilson Mausteller. He then had the representatives of
the new secretariats, Vineyard, Colorado, Eastern Tennessee and
Yellowstone stand. He suggested that these people seek each other out
this weekend.

At this time, Dr. Ryan
LaHurd, President of Lenoir-Rhyne, came in to also welcome us on behalf
of the college.

Randy called on Pastor
Paul Bauman, Nominating Chairman, to present the "Nominating Process"
that his committee has devised. His committee includes Pat Dever and
Bill Hightower.

1. Thursday nominations
from the committee are presented with biographical information.

2. Committee will accept
other nominations. Future candidates must accept and fill out a
biographical form.

3. All nominations other
than from the committee must be presented by noon Friday. They will be
announced at Friday's business meeting.

4. Elections will be held
at the business meeting on Saturday.

Randy passed out his
gift, printed copies of all forums, keynote addresses, etc. that have
been given beginning in 1991. Oran Gough gave "magnet" cards which have
the National Lutheran Secretariat Internet address: "
http://www.viadecristo.org "

Les Miller, Delegate from
Central Michigan. Les invited the NLS to come to Saginaw, Michigan July
23rd through July 26th, 1999.

Ron Millard, delegate
from Heart of Illinois, is an expert in software and has written a
Windows-based VdC software program that can be used by Secretariats. It
is a database that can report on such things as "who has given the
Fourth Day Rollo in this secretariat?" He will demonstrate how the Via
de Cristo might use it in Isenhour Hall tonight.

Oran Gough moved that the
slate presented by the Nominating Committee be accepted by acclamation.
President, Randy Mullin, Vice President of Outreach, Doug Burrows and
Secretary, Myra Hogan. Approved unanimously.

Doug Burrows gave a copy
of the Pastor's Booklet to each secretariat.

Pastor Carroll announced
that the Leader's Manual is now available (one for each secretariat).
He and Luther Piel and Pastor Paul Schmidlin are to be thanked for
their work on this.

Thanks to Tom Johnson of
Miami and Pastor Gene Hermeier from Iowa for giving the history of the
two beginning movements at the Anniversary celebration.

President Randy Mullin
announced that the attendance for this year's meeting has grown to 138
(not counting Host Committee people) as compared with 1996 which was
85.

Thanks to Ellie for the
work she has done on the booklet on 4th
Day Groups and Eduardo Bonnin.

The Spiritual Director's
Manual is almost ready. It just needs one "talk" to be complete.

Sylvia Schrader, Vineyard
Secretariat, reported from her committee with a recommendation that a
banner be made for each Secretariat (A gift from the NLS) showing the
connection of the local secretariat to the National Secretariat. Their
suggestion is that the banner be the outline of the USA with the
National Secretariat logo. Their estimate of the cost is about $15.00
per banner.

Banners for Tennessee and
Yellowstone were made by this group and presented. (These are two of
our new secretariats who attended the NLS annual meeting for the first
time.)

Sylvia presented a motion
for the following statement to be adopted by the NLS and added to our
literature: "True Palanca is prayer and sacrifice. Prayer and sacrifice
can be made visible through gifts of love. Gifts of love are not true
Palanca without prayer and sacrifice." Motion passed.

Report
from Pastor Dow: Stations of the Cross:
as a follow-up to last year's presentations and discussions. One year
after we determined that the Biblical Way of the Cross (Ave Maria
Press) was an appropriate and approved resource for recommendation. We
so moved that this resource be recommended to all secretariats by
letter from the National SD, that the distribution center have a supply
of these on hand, that appropriate publicity accompany this action, and
that copies of this way of the cross be included in all new movement
start up kits.

Relationships
with Bishops:
SD's are urged to be diligent about letting their local bishop or
similar superior in church governing body know that Holy Communion is
being celebrated during weekends and other occasions during the
calendar year: apprise them of the schedule (they may publish it in the
synod newsletter!), and use all opportunities to exercise open and
positive communication with bishops.

Harrassment
Issues on Weekends and Beyond:
Where weekend staff members or other members of the community are
engaging in inappropriate behaviors of a sexual nature on or beyond the
weekend, we thought that the offender must be confronted by the
secretariat as a whole, not just the SD, that a written and signed
statement from the offended person might be helpful, and that the
secretariat's responsibility was to maintain the integrity of the
community and reasserting order as loving confrontation urges help for
the offender as a condition for re-entering the community.

Motion: Moved that the
document, "NLS Hosting an Annual Meeting Guidelines" be accepted as a
manual for prospective host committees. It shall be reviewed annually.

This committee should be
an ongoing, informational and training committee that meets every year.

Recommendation: The
committee recommends that the Lay Rollo Outline Books be updated and
that Karen Schneider, Rev. Paul Schmidlin and Ronald Orr begin the
process.

Pastor Jeff Olsgaard from
Yellowstone asked for the floor to encourage everyone to strive to
achieve a more colorful representation of races at future meetings to
match the bright hues demonstrated by clothing of participants. He
received a big hand!

Music Guidelines written
by Donna Gough should have been sent to each secretariat. This
information has been included in the Essentials Manual.

Motion: The office of NLS
Outreach , Vice President be authorized to call and organize an
Outreach/Revitalization team to be used as needed for the strengthening
and expansion of the movement. The team shall be selected to enable the
NLS to provide guidance and support to New Movements and to nurture the
relationship of existing movements. The office of Outreach shall
present the names of the team members to the NLS Executive Board for
approval. Team members will serve on an annual basis. Motion passed.

Motion: The committee
presented a motion that we accept the new logo design that is presently
displayed on our web site with the addition of the corpus from the VDC
cross and that it be adopted as the official emblem of Via de Cristo;
final design to be approved by the Executive Board prior to production.
Passed.

Recommendations: It was
recommended that a new position of Internet Manager be created as part
of the Executive Committee, to be appointed by the NLS president. It
was also recommended that every Secretariat adopt a web site with a
connection link to the NLS website as soon as possible and that the
website would contain a map of all secretariats and sites for people
relocating to find a new community and a list of all pastors that
support local Secretariats.

It was also recommended
that the NLS Executive Board produce an audio tape to assist
Secretariats in the training & development of leaders in the
VDC movement.

The Committee moved that
the NLS approve the 1997-98 budget of $18,520 in revenue and $17,000 in
expenses. Motion passed.

The Committee moved that
the NLS revise and update the Constitution and ByLaws of the NLS in a
timely manner so that the revision can be published by the required
notification period in order to be voted upon at the annual meeting.

Motion: A motion was
presented to incorporate the "Nominating Process" presented by this
year's Nominating Committee, Pastor Paul Bauman, Pat Dever and Bill
Hightower into the constitutional changes made by the
Constitution/Bylaws Committee.

The Committee moved that
the National Lutheran Secretariat copyright the names and
abbreviations: Via de Cristo VIA DE CRISTO VIA de CRISTO

VDC VdC

Phil said that we need to
delete any "Cursillo method" or "Lutheran Cursillo" in our literature.

Randy asked if it would
be good to have a Fax machine (with a message machine) for the
Distribution Center. The cost would be about $650.00 and would come out
of Distribution Center funds. Motion passed without dissent.

...about the offering:
The consensus was that it should be taken up, that people should know
when and for what purpose.

...criteria for "Hosting"
We feel the secretariat must be affiliated with the NLS and current on
their due, should have a facility that will be available and will hold
a minimum of 125 people and would expect to have a Eucharist service
daily.

The Board felt that we
should add the position of Internet Manager to the Executive Committee.
..we appoint Oran Gough to this position, that it will be unpaid, but
that we would take on the expense of sending him to the Mid-Year.
Motion passed without dissent.

Conexiones Volume 16,
Number 3 Pre-Annual Meeting Edition May, 1998

From
the Vice President of Outreach, Doug Burrows
- Since my last letter to you, my wife Kathie and I were blessed while
working on the Tennessee #1 weekend. This weekend occurred September
25-28, 1997. The weekend was held at Camp Carson in New Port,
Tennessee. We were both very thankful for the opportunity to be on this
weekend, because we were involved with the original formation meeting
for Tennessee. Western North Carolina Via de Cristo was very helpful in
causing this to happen, and we thank them for their work. Our Rector,
Larry Witham, along with his wife, Lois, who was the head cha (this was
a mixed weekend) was able to do a wonderful job in leading the team.
Kathie and I came away knowing that the future of Tennessee weekends is
very bright. There were four representatives of the Lutheran Church of
Finland present as candidates.

It is with much pleasure
that I can say they have chosen to proceed with the weekend in Finland.
They have, however, chosen to use the European style of weekend as they
feel it will be more accepted by their culture than the American style.

Following the efforts in
Tennessee, Pat Dever (Texas Lutheran Via de Cristo) and I met with
Bishop Schoenhals of the Oklahoma/Arkansas Synod, along with some of
his pastors and lay persons in Oklahoma City. This meeting occurred on
the 15th of November. Bishop Schoenhals arranged for that meeting and
was very supportive in presenting the VdC to his synod.

Pat Dever is working with
this, and Nancy Shane of North Texas has also been helpful in making
arrangement to enroll candidates from Oklahoma/Arkansas into the Dallas
weekends.

Now to New York. Fred and
Linda Hill, who many of you may remember made the trip to Lenoir Rhyne
College, are working hard in upstate New York. Through their efforts we
met with Bishop Lee Miller, Bishop of the Upstate New York Synod.

One additional order of
business I wish to include with this writing is that of the Pastors
list. During the midyear meeting of the NLS board it was decided to
stop the printing of this list.

NLS Conference Call
October 5, 1997

Randy told Phil that he
had received an E-Mail from Debbie Speights (Western North Carolina
Host committee) indicated that she will be sending a check for $1500.00
to the NLS; the amount left after expenses. Their committee requests
that this amount be used for Outreach.

Pastor Carroll said that
he now has all the material to print the Spiritual Director's manual
and will be doing that soon.

Bishop Floyd Schoenhals
from the ELCA Okloahoma/Arkansas Synod has sent letters to pastors and
other interested parties re: starting a movement.

Randy and Pastor Paul
Schmidlin visited Camp Koinonia in New York recently. It is located
just across the Delaware River from Pennsylvania and is an ELCA camp.
There is an interest there led by Pastor Christopher Christopher who
had spent time in Charlotte with Pastor Peter Setzer.

Phil and Myra reported
that along with Dennis Hogan, who is spearheading a new movement in the
Naples, Florida area, they will be meeting next month with Pastor Ron
Walter to map out plans.

We need to think about
back-ups for our standing committee chairpeople. Randy feels we should
have a "two deep" in case one of the present chairpersons is
unavailable.

Mid-Year
November 15-16, 1997

Randy asked if we felt
the NLS is ready for a paid administrative position? The board felt
that in a couple of years that might be the case, but not presently.

Ed suggested that the
Administrative Vice-President could come to the Host Committee's site a
day before the rest of the board so that the Executive Board can focus
on business when they arrive.

Although Nebraska is
holding reunions, they are not holding VDC weekends, but they are
holding prison weekends. Kansas has quit and so has Almost Heaven.

re: A-OK - They plan to
send 50 candidates to make a weekend in North Texas VDC or the Lutheran
Texas VDC one year from now.

Randy shared the
materials that the Emmaus and Episcopal movements have in their
libraries. He suggested we consider having something similar in the
form of a Lutheran manual (ex: The Episcopal materials included 10
small books on topics such as Ultreyas, Group Reunions, Sponsoring,
etc.) It is important that we teach the method; that we have guidance
as to how to put on the weekends.

We also discussed
restructuring our annual meetings so that we have smaller committees
and more time to share what we are each doing.....Randy said that
people expressed their desire to have more time together in the
Evaluation Forms.

We will have two Forums;
#1. Spiritual Direction....#2. Outreach, 1998.."Yesterday, Today,
Tomorrow" (Doug Burrows will lead). ....There will be a Keynote address
at the dinner Saturday night. The theme, as chosen by the host
committee, will be "Ask, Seek & Knock."

Cost will be $150.00 if
received by June 1st and $175.00 if received after that. ...Copies of
registrations will be forwarded immediately to Ed. Pam wanted to know
when their musicians could participate?

Sunday night, called
Pastor Carroll - Pastor said the September Conexiones should be mailed
soon. Pastor Dow asked when he can get his hands on the Spiritual
Director's Manual? It is being put together.

We discussed how we might
get a database as accurate as possible for names and addresses of all
the secretariats. Myra will tackle the job and will send labels for the
December Conexiones to Pastor Lang.

We discussed what we
should advise the Archives Committee to do (Greg Steele with the help
of Leona Fox). It was determined that we would like to have the history
recorded of the National Lutheran Secretariat and the Lutheran
movement. Some people who can be contacted for information are Pastor
Carroll, Luther Piel, "Whitey," Allen and Gene Hermeier. We will ask
the Archives committee for an estimate of expected costs to be given to
the budget committee.

Doug wanted to know
whether he should continue compiling a Pastor's list annually? It was
decided that we will discontinue doing this for now.

Randy wanted to know if we should invite
other 3-Day movements? It was decided not to at this time.

Phil will also make
arrangements for the 97-98 audit prior to the annual meeting.

We discussed the desire
of our NLS to become more inclusive of races and handicapped and how to
do this.

Doug asked the question
of how we might reach into our seminaries. It was suggested that we
tell our friends who are in the proximity of the Seminaries that we
need to reach out to the seminarians. Also, that we might have an
outreach to faculty members.

We need to tell the
committee that we would like to have two mikes on the floor of our
meeting room. We will ask the Host Committee to color-code our
badges...One color for Host, one for Executive Board, one for Delegates
and another for Visitors.

Phil moved that we send
Randy, present President and Ellie, immediate past-President to the 4th
Day meeting wherever it is held this year. Doug moved that we offer to
pay the registration fees for Southern California and ECCOI to attend
the annual meeting this year. Motion passed.

Doug said that we need to
explain the possibility of having links to Secretariats on our Website.

Spiritual
Director's Report, Rev. Richard Dow
- He would like to send copies of the Spiritual Director's Manual to
his committee members to look over before the Annual Meeting (Pastor
Carroll said it would be ready soon).

Administrative
VP, Ed Hansen
- After discussion, the board agreed that we should send an advance
amount to cover registrations of the Executive Board and the Standing
Committee members for whom we pay. This will amount to $1350 and Randy
felt this would be acceptable by the committee. Phil will send a check
right away.

Outreach
VP, Doug Burrows
- Randy said that the new movement in central Illinois, Heart of
Illinois, will be holding their first weekends this spring and that he
has been asked to serve on the team. Doug reported that Finland has
decided to use the European format for their set of weekends this fall.
Doug reported that he had been to upper New York and had met with the
Bishop who is bringing in his pastors in March to meet like
Oklahoma/Arkansas did. They expect to have an Ultreya in Tyler, NY in
February with around 60 attending.

Mike Swecker from
Minnesota has been talking with some of the northern states along the
Red River, particularly North Dakota (they are functioning, but are
sending people to Minnesota).

They are disappointed
that Pastor Ron Walter from Naples/Fort Meyers has accepted a call to
Texas. They will have to start over to find help there.

Secretary, Myra Hogan -
Myra also reported that she had contacted Debbie Speights and Ellie
Henning to see if it has been a precedent that we send letters out to
all who attended the last annual meeting to encourage them to come to
this one. Debbie said that it was not in her manual and they didn't do
it last year. Ellie felt that it should be done in the future.

Randy asked if the board
would approve him asking Pastor Bill Sistar to head up the Nominating
Committee. Everyone agree this would be a fine choice.

Greg Steele is working on
the Archives. He has accumulated a lot of material and will be asking
others who have been involved for a long time to look it over (so, this
is still "work in progress").

Randy said that Pastor
Carroll is the only committee chairperson who has given a suggestion
for back-up to their positions. He has recommended Kari Sheppard, who
has agreed to serve.

Pastor Lang wanted to
know if we were calling the "Essentials" a finished product? We agreed
that it will be on-going and a "work-in-progress."

NLS
Conference Call March 29, 1998

VP
Outreach
- The first set of weekends for Heart of Illinois are coming up soon.
Colorado just finished theirs. A set of Lutheran weekends has been held
in Montana.

PresidentBill Sistar, Chairman of
the Nominations Committee, reports that he has two who would be willing
to be nominated for Administrative Vice President: Debbie Speights and
Ron Orr.

NLS Meeting #21 July 23-25, 1998

Cousins Center Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Executive
Board Meeting July 22, 1998

Randy expressed concern
as to how our shortened committee time is going to work. We discussed
that more committee time can be spent in committee during Seminars
and/or structured sharing if needed.

Discussion followed as to
how we can help people moving away from one secretariat to another and
finding ways for them to "plug into" new locations.

Randy asked Pastor
Carroll if he would display the gift we are giving Jack Packer (a Greg
Olsen print - "O Jerusalem"), explaining our purpose in honoring him
and asking for messages to attach to the back.

Randy said that he is
disappointed that the work of the Constitution Committee "fell through
the cracks."

Pastor Dow said that his
committee will be going over the Spiritual Director's Manual which
Pastor Carroll edited, piece by piece. He wants it to be universal.

Doug felt that he would
like to add a position to make an official connection with the Church
like the Emmaus and Cursillo movements have.

Annual
Meeting Minutes July 23-25, 1998

Pastor Mark Peterson
welcomed us on behalf of Bishop Peter Rogness of the Wisconsin Synod,
who couldn't be with us this day.

Randy welcomed the new
members of the NLS and asked that a delegate from their secretariat
give a brief synopsis of his/her secretariat: Southern California,
Roxanne Fackler; Colorado, Mark Carnes; Utah, Pamela Roundy; Heart of
Illinois, Ron Millard; and Rainbow (Maryland), Craig Wasilius.

We had a surprise visitor
at this point. Monsignor Harold Waldo, National Spiritual Director of
the Catholic Cursillo, just happened to be in the building and
recognized our rainbow attire, so he dropped by to welcome us and to
give us a few words of encouragement..

...moved that we accept
the nomination of Pastor Richard Dow as Spiritual Director and that we
cast a unanimous ballot for his election.

...a like motion to elect
Debbie Speights as Administrative Vice-President and it was seconded by
Dennis Hogan.

Randy announced that all
offerings at worship services go to the NLS. In the past these
contributions have gone to Outreach.

Randy announced that
Florida will host the annual meeting in the year 2000. Donna Gough
moved that Minnesota be the host for the year 2001. Passed.

Pastor Rick Meter of
Rockford, Illinois and Alpine Lutheran Church gave a brief talk about
the diversity of people in the movement. He had past experience with
Via de Cristo in Florida before moving North.

..moved that we cast a
unanimous vote for Phil Lustig. Motion passed without dissent.

The responsibilities of
the clergy to maintain the theological content of the weekend were
affirmed. The SD's agreed that these guidelines should clearly state
that participation.

New
Movement
- "New Movement should have a mentoring relationship with NLS."

Create a new position for
outreach on every Secretariat to identify opportunities for growth and
to attend hopefully the NLS annual meeting for sharing.

Phil Lustig asked Diane
Purcell to present an overview of our audit situation. Diane said that
in the future we will need to file an IRS report.

Jerry Vehrs presented a
colorful printed catalogue of the materials available from the NLS
Distribution Center. ..Jerry said that "The Essentials Manual" will be
printed up.

"Keeping
a Secretariat Healthy"-
1. The NLS Vice President of Outreach or a designee will personally
contact each secretariat at least annually to identify potential
problem areas. This will be done by phone or personal visit.

2. The NLS Executive
Board should offer to provide resources to help secretariats with
problems, as needs are discovered.

3. NLS will identify
specific individuals or secretariats to act as resources to struggling
secretariats. We strongly urge the NLS Executive Board to consider
forming a task force of experienced persons to coordinate the direction
of resources and be responsible for achieving the needed activities.

4. We recommend that the
NLS, on an ongoing basis, encourage all secretariats to request help if
needed.

5. NLS will provide
materials and supplies to aid struggling secretariats (A budget
allocation of $250 is requested for this purpose).

6. NLS will mail the
final report of this committee to all member secretariats for their
information and consideration.

It is moved that the
National Lutheran Secretariat approve the 1998-99 budget of $18,460 in
revenue and $18,100 in expenses per copy of statement provided.

Ron Orr reported that
Karen had re-written a working revision of the outlines for the
Environment and Christian Community in Action talks.

Motion to adopt as our
guide to conducting the authentic weekend "Essentials of the Via de
Cristo" (as endorsed and distributed in 1997) to preserve and maintain
the integrity of our movements and weekends.

The continuing education
classes are designated as follows: 1. 4th Day CE 101 - a 4 hour class
primarily oriented to educate the new pilgrim. 2. 4th Day CE 201 - an 8
hour class for the VDC community as a whole to train all leaders.

Their goal is to present
a completed first draft of both manuals to the Executive Board at the
1999 NLS Annual Meeting for further editing.

Following the recess, we
returned for the vote on the acceptance of the line item of $1500.00
for the production of the 25th anniversary video. Motion failed.

Sunday
Executive Board meeting

Phil moved that checks
written for any amount exceeding $500 will require approval from the
Executive Board. There was added a friendly amendment to the motion
that travel expenses for board functions would be excluded.

Phil reported that
collections from offerings totaled $1798.00 and he moved that they be
allocated to Outreach. Motion passed.

Doug said that following
the Treasurer's Report we should say "File for Audit" rather than
having a motion to accept.

Michigan asked for
approval of the theme "Make a Friend, Be a Friend, Bring a Friend to
Christ" for next year's annual meeting.

Conference
Call September 13, 1998

Pastor Dow said that
editing and printing up the Spiritual Directors' work at the Nationals
is a "work-in-progress."

There is also an area in
Western Montana where there may be an effort under way before long. In
the Oklahoma/Arkansas area they are having Ultreyas. There is another
area in Texas...Houston where there is an interest and Nancy Shane will
be looking in on that. They are interested in a Co-ed weekend.

Randy said that we need
to see what is available in merchandise and what we want to bring to
Saginaw.

Conexiones
Volume 17, Number 1 Annual Meeting Edition October, 1998

Say
'Yes!' to Michigan in 1999

Hosted by Lutheran Via de
Cristo of Central Michigan (LVCCM), most of the events will take place
at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

Special worship services
are being coordinated by Rev. Bernie Philabaum, host committee
spiritual director, and Tom Kraska, who brought Lutheran Cursillo to
Mid-Michigan from Florida nearly twenty years ago.

In addition to hosting
the NLS Annual Meeting, LVCCM will be celebrating two other milestones
in 1999: their twentieth year as a community and fiftieth pair of
weekends, making an even 100 since 1979.

Conference
Call June 7, 1998

Outreach,
Doug Burrows
- Doug said that Arkansas is still at the beginning stages of their
development. He has been in touch with New York (still at beginning
stages, also) and Tennessee, of course.

President,
Randy Mullin
- The Archives Committee is working still...Greg Steele is giving a
perspective of his own experiences. We will need to get some others
involved for their inputs... Pastor Ed will be doing the keynote speech
on Saturday night.

Randy said that he has
had formal notification from Minnesota to bid for the year 2000. Myra
said that Florida will also bid. Doug said that he doesn't think
Rainbow will be bidding...

New
Movement, Douglas Burrows
- To bring you up to date as best possible about Finland let me say
that the movement has begun. The first weekend was held in November and
was a success.

This new effort is known
as Damascus Road Via de Cristo. Our contact there is the Lay Director
Linda Hill. Linda and her team are being supported in their work by
Vineyard Via de Cristo with Pastor Dave Schrader lending a hand.

Ark-Ok is still in the
molding stages but they are meeting as ultreya at my last contact and
are sending the Pilgrims to North Texas until we get it off the ground
for their own start

Western Montana is
another area that will be coming to the fore this spring. We have a
small, but solid, group working to begin a new effort in the NW area of
Montana.

Comments
on 1998 Annual Meeting, Debbie Speights
- the schedule was too "tight" and there is "never" enough time to
complete committee work. The keynote was found to be entertaining and
inspirational and the outreach forum was informative and challenging.

increased use of the
website for disseminating information to affiliate members. ...being
Lutheran and
ecumenical, getting secretariats to stick to basics,
bylaws/constitution revision, and improving communications on all
levels. Several suggested topics for forums, seminars, etc. were 4th
day involvement, how to get sponsors to do their jobs, remaining both
Lutheran and ecumenical, resolving conflicts within the local
secretariats and getting back to basics.

Putting
Pen to Paper, Debbie Speights
- As we grow in numbers, both in affiliate secretariats and individual
attendees, it becomes incumbent upon the Executive Board to provide the
type of programming which would prove useful to a wider constituent
while preserving time for free exchange and fellowship.

Thus, this year's offerings will include a
keynote address, forum, banquet, teaching seminars, committee work,
business sessions as well as daily worship with Eucharist. Each
attendee may elect to serve on a committee of their choice or choose
not to be involved in committee work as committee times will run
concurrently with seminar times on Friday p.m. and Saturday a.m. On
Thursday and Friday evenings, following dinner and preceding vespers,
our time will be divided into two segments - small discussion groups
and unstructured/free time. Each evening will conclude with fellowship
and offerings from our host committee.

Report
of 11/14/98 meeting, Randy Mullin
- Those present: Doug Burrows, National Lutheran Secretariat Outreach
Vice-President, Kathie Burrows, grandmother to Doug's grandchildren,
Randy Mullin, National Lutheran Secretariat President, Bill Clark,
former president of ECCOI, Dr. John Brackett, former president of
ECCOI, Ray Gaebler, president of ECCOI.

The original planners of
ECCOI (including Pastor Ed Simonsen) anticipated many of the problems
to be found in providing a weekend experience that is respectful of
differing liturgical and sacramental traditions. As a result, they
spend a considerable portion of their weekend in the "Sacraments" rollo
and the Saturday celebration of Eucharist. Our hosts estimated that
this lasts from 9:00 to 3:00 on Saturday.

Mid-year
Meeting, Saginaw, Michigan

Doug expects "A-OK"
(Arkansas-Oklahoma), the VDC of Southern California, perhaps New York
and Tennessee to be members soon.

Phil pointed out, too,
that we have more Lutherans in the northeastern states than anywhere,
yet we don't have any movements north of New York. We need to make
contacts with those people.

Myra said that she felt
the small group meetings were a good idea, but we need to make the
group smaller with a leader appointed and some way to feed back
conclusions of the group. She suggested we do away with the New Member
Orientation in favor of handing out printed material to new members.

In discussion, it was
felt that we must have a current database. The secretary would secure
the names of the current local secretariat leaders as well as those who
have most recently attended annual NLS meetings. He/she would have
mailing addresses, positions held, phone numbers, fax numbers, E-Mail
addresses and notations as to when that secretariat's data was last
updated. He/she would be responsible for notifying the website manager
of changes, as well as the newsletter editor. Myra said that the annual
survey forms ask when secretariats hold their elections and how long
their term of offices are. It was determined that the secretary will
keep the data base and keep it current.

Wisconsin had indicated
they would keep half of their approximate $2000.00 and send the rest to
Michigan. Western North Carolina returned all of their to the NLS.

Randy pointed out that
the NLS would never want a hosting secretariat to lose money and that
we should make sure that doesn't happen.

Doug moved that the Host
Committee will pay the expenses for the Keynote Speaker and Forum
leader. Registration costs for committee chairs not members of the
Executive Board will also be born by the HostCommittee.
When travel expenses are requested, the NLS will cover those expenses.
This will be made a line-item budget item annually. Motion passed.

Randy will meet with both
secretariats in Southern California in January. Doug expects to see
both secretariats in Arizona soon. Doug said that he would like to pay
for pastors to go to weekends in Western Montana out of the Outreach
budget.

Randy will encourage the
group in Illinois - ECCOI, which is an Ecumenical group operating
independently (Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran) to come. Randy and
Doug met with this group recently. Doug says Outreach will fund the
expenses for someone from New York and A-OK. Phil will excuse the first
year's dues when they become members. Houston is a "work in progress,"
as is Alabama. Pastor Dow wants to get something started in Louisiana
and plans to send people to the Texas weekends. Randy will give him a
name of a contact with the Emmaus. We will see that someone comes from
Tennessee and will help financially, if needed. New York will have a
secretariat in January (they will be there). New Jersey is a "work in
progress," too, and perhaps would be ready to send someone.

We hope to have a map
with each secretariat listed according to region (on website). We need
an E-mail connection. We need to be current with website information.
We would like for the web user to be able to point at a region and
click to display our NLS constituents in that area.

Randy said that the
newsletter needs to be regular (quarterly) and timely. We discussed how
we can improve upon this.

Pastor Carroll feels he
will still need to keep up the database as he is the NLS 800 number.
The secretary will see that he gets it.

Phil moved that we
produce some select number of items with the logo and/or "Via de
Cristo" and that we bring them to the 1999 annual meeting to sell in
Saginaw. Motion passed.

Discussion re 4th Day
movements - We should perhaps be sending the Vice President of
Outreach.

Doug moved that Randy
have time allotted Saturday evening to give his report on where the
National Lutheran Secretariat of the Via de Cristo has been, where we
are now, and where we are going. Motion passed.

Authentic
3 day experience
- This committee will familiarize what materials are available, hazards
of add-ons, the least common denominator and will most likely finish in
the year 2000. They have a budget of $500.00.

Video
- The charge is to evaluate past efforts, define the purpose and
limitations of previous efforts and to target "works in progress."

We need to give him a
year for the video (2001) 20th Anniversary in Minnesota as an expected
finished product. This video will depict what one would expect as a 4th
Day experience.

Doug moved that we
instruct Video committee to produce a video by 2001 that will depict
the 4th Day experience and that we also instruct him to video tape for
the Archives the Keynote address, the Forum and the Banquet speech in
their entirety and that he be requested to furnish us with a cost.
Motion passed.

Developing
Leader Training Material
- This committee has been directed to develop a training module. We
will give them a target date of 2001. Their budget is $300.00.

Lay
Talk Outline Revision
- We will charge this committee with a year 2001 deadline to complete.

We want to give committee
chair people an idea of what they can be budgeted and need to know
before the annual meeting. We project $1000 for video, $750 for
training, $1000 for Lay Talk and $1000 for Authentic 3 Day Experience.
Randy will pass along this information with his request that present
chairs remain.

Teleconference
January 17, 1999

Pastor Dow said that he
and his family are now settled in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Myra received the
required papers from Tennessee that now make them official members of
the NLS.

Randy said that all
changes in database will now be sent to Myra. When people have new
information, they should notify her.

Phil said that he has an
appointment this week with an attorney to discuss the trademark.

Doug reported that he had
talked to Bill Thompson from Arizona. He said that Southern Arizona has
been having financial problems and are thinking of moving their
weekends back to Phoenix. Doug will talk to both movements in Arizona.
Doug said that we now have a new secretariat in New York.

Randy asked Pastor
Carroll about the Conexiones. He wants to get the Conexiones out this
month because of registration forms.

Conexiones
Volume 17, Number 3 Spring Edition May, 1999

NLS Conference Call
April 25, 1999

Phil said that he had had
a request from Damascus of New York to pay their dues for this year.

Randy said that he is
disappointed that the website hasn't gone forward. It appears that Ed
Hillers doesn't want the responsibility of keeping NLS information up
to date. He is interested in doing graphics, etc., but not the job of
keeping data current. Oran is searching for someone willing to do this.

Debbie asked Phil if he
had received any money of the left-over funds from Wisconsin. Phil
indicated he had not.

The board felt that a
policy needs to be established and Doug made a motion that the overages
be returned to the NLS for discretionary use by the First Vice
President for NLS expenses connected to the annual meeting.

Pastor Dow had suggested
to them that one offering be taken up on Saturday night.

Pastor Dow said the he
has finally mailed off two rollos which completes the work on the
Spiritual Director's Manual.

Doug expects Tucson of
Arizona to send delegates and hopefully Phoenix as well.

We may need also to help
Pittsburgh and Nebraska; both seem to be rejuvenating and expect to be
in Saginaw.

NLS Meeting #22 July 21-24, 1999

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Saginaw,
Michigan

Minutes
of NLS Annual Meeting

Randy began the meeting
with a musical devotion, "Go Light Your World."

Doug moved that we sell
the following items at cost: Five dozen 'tee' shirts, $7.00 each; 5
dozen golf shirts, $30.00 ea., five dozen sweat shirts, $20.00 each,
and 6 dozen coffee mugs at $4.00 each. All of the merchandise has the
NLS logo printed. Motion passed.

Pastor Carroll Lang
reported that he has brought 200 Spiritual Director's Manuals with him
and there are 300 more to be sold through the Distribution Center.

Phil notified us that we
should specify in the minutes that we are trademarked for 'Via de
Cristo.' the Via de Cristo design, and 'VDC'.

Oran asked that we allow
him to purchase the Front Page 2000 program (the cost will be around
$145 to $150.) Motion passed.

Diane's report: She
discovered that we had not been incorporated since 1987 because we
hadn't filed. She has taken care of that and we are now valid,
incorporated in the state of Minnesota. The IRS accepted this. Our
legal address is: 10815 Thomas Ave., Bloomington, MN 55431. This is the
home address of Mike Swecker who is Minnesota's full time
administrator.

Diane reported further
that according to our constitution, our fiscal year ends May 31.

Anyone who donates more
than $250 needs documentation.

Randy said that the new
board needs to be reminded that there are three people, Ed Simonsen,
Tom Johnson and Gene Hermeier who are working at getting their talks on
record.

Thursday - President
Randy Mullin invited Pastor John Rauh forward to open our meeting with
prayer.

Randy said that we need
to encourage those not present to attend: Vineyard, Pittsburgh,
Nebraska, Texas (San Antonio area), Montana and Utah.

Randy asked
representatives from secretariats that are either new, or were not
present last year to come forward and tell us a little about their
movements. Those speaking were: Judy Flaskamper from Lutheran Cursillo
of Southern California, Jim Widney from Arizona Lutheran Cursillo,
Ralph Jensen from Southern Arizona Lutheran Cursillo, Jan Nelson from
A-OK. (Arkansas/Oklahoma), Chuck Simmons from Tennessee and Dottie
Schwartz from Sonshine North of Florida.

The merchandise in the
front of the church is an example of what will be available through
Trans World Services, Inc. located in Columbus, Ohio. Their product
will be displayed on the website in the future.

Randy called on Fred
Schneider to report on the work his Constitution Committee has done.
They recommend no changes for the present, but will most likely bring
some for next year.

Randy called on Vi
Christiansen, chairman of the Nominating Committee to give their
report. Karen Schneider and Lee Zimmerman served with her on this
committee. They present the following slate: President - Doug Burrows

Vice President, Outreach
- Mike Swecker Secretary - Lucy Hightower

Randy appointed Leona Fox as Parliamentarian
for the annual business meetings here.

The President asked for
nominations from the floor. There being none, it was moved that the
nominations be closed and the nominees declared elected. Motion passed.

Committee
Reports:

Lay
Talk Revision Committee
- Karen Schneider, Chairman of this committee, reported that they
reviewed the "Environment" talk and began "Christian Community in
Action." This year's committee revised the "Group Reunion and Ultreya"
talk (instead of "Total Security"). She moved that the Lay Talk
Revision Committee be allowed a budget of $2400.00 for travel for a
subcommittee of five to meet and work during the year. Following
discussion as to the needs of the committee, the motion passed without
dissent.

Outreach
Committee
- Some steps were offered as a suggestion in helping new movements in
getting started: 1. Seek assistance of the NLS. 2. Start a reunion
"core" group. 3. Send reunion group members to any nearby expression.
4. Begin the Ultreya process. 5. Establish a secretariat to begin the
process of organizing the new community. 6. Provide the new secretariat
with a "New Movement Startup Kit." 7. Identify, contact and inform
other leaders in local churches and other environments. 8. Inform synod
or church headquarters of activities and intentions. 9. Develop
"Leadership Planning Timeline." 10. Establish a site that will
accommodate the weekend. 11. Establish tentative dates for the first
VdC weekend. 12. Identify materials and supplies needed to accommodate
a weekend. 13. Selection of weekend rectors, SD's and team members. 14.
Pre-Weekend preparation. 15. Weekend. 16. Post Weekend.

Leaders
Training Material Committee
- Wayne indicated that he hopes the scripts for the Leaders Training
will be ready by 2000. He feels this will be a "Course 101" workshop.

The committee's goal is
to complete the first draft of both workshops for final review by
Pastors Carroll Lang and Paul Schmidlin so that they can be brought to
next year's meeting.

Wayne moved that the
committee be allowed a budget of $750.00 in the 1999-2000 budget to
reimburse committee members for long distance calls, copying and other
incidental expenses. Motion passed.

Finance
Committee
- Some issues were discussed such as whether the 800 number which
Pastor Carroll maintains (1-800-214-1155) is worthwhile.

Sunday:

Doug stated that there
were two appointments to be made by the Board: Supplies Distribution
and Palanca Coordinator. Mark Carnes and Dick Emery were appointed.

Position of Archivist:
Doug stated that there is a need to create a position as archivist.
Randy Mullin's name was suggested. Phil moved that the position be
created and Randy be appointed. Motion carried.

Randy pointed out that,
according to prior minutes, a camera was to have been bought from some
unused budgeted funds. Pastor Carroll was asked to purchase the camera
before the December meeting. He is to keep it in his custody.

Lay Talks: As some of the
lay talk revisions are getting close to publication state, the question
was asked whether we should begin to release them as soon as possible
or wait until all are finished. Consensus was to release ASAP. Randy
suggested that a different cover be placed on the revised talks along
with the publication date..

The basic fee for the
facility will run $117 per person based on attendance of 150 persons.

The theme will be "Go
Light Your World" for NLS 2000.

Conexiones
Volume 17, Number 4 Annual Meeting Edition September, 1999

A
Request, Doug Burrows
- Pastor Nate Lundgren opened by calling us to our responsibilities as
Christians to evangelize the world and not just our churches.

Ed Kutay reminded all of
us to keep the integrity of our movement protected by adhering to the
basics and fundamentals and to respect the dynamics of what happens on
a weekend in the life of the Pilgrim. Pastor Peter Setzer outlined our
work as it pertains to gaining the support of Lutheran Bishops and
Pastors. A newcomer as presenter was Larry Witham of Western NC who
presented a seminar concerning the Co-Ed weekend and how it can be
presented in different ways and still be successful. Mark Carnes of our
new Colorado Secretariat shared his knowledge of the Ultreya Properly
Done. Myra Hogan presented fourth day and group reunion. Her
presentation was just like the rest of her work for the NLS.
Outstanding, and we thank her for it. Leona Fox presented the subject
of Palanca to us with the admonition that true Palanca is prayer and
support through prayer. Ellie Henning, one of our tireless workers,
presented the topic of Hosting the Annual Meeting.

This brings me to the
conclusion of the weekend. Our outgoing President, Dr. Randy Mullin,
gave an outstanding talk. Combining with with wisdom Randy encourages
all of us as we continue in our walk.

...secure board approval
for the appointment of Mark Carnes of Colorado as the new Palanca
Chair, and Richard Emery of Fl. Sonshine South as the new Distribution
Center chair.

Pathway
- What a lot of us don't know much about is Pathway, a similar retreat
for college students. Pathway was begun about seven years ago by
Chaplain Don Just and his secretary, Laurie Wegner along with several
students at Lenoir Rhyne College. timandwendy@appstate.campu

NLS
Executive Board Conference Call September 12, 1999

Debbie will be working
with Dennis Hogan and Peg Lustig to ensure that we use the same
(registration) form in Conexiones, on the Web Site, and for mailing.

Mike reported: Lauren
Kingrey has moved to Minnesota from Nebraska. Mike understands that
there will be a Via de Cristo weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska - probably
in year 2000 or 2001. Phil stated that a good contact would be Pastor
Conrad Braaten and his wife Jennifer. He will be moving to Nebraska in
the near future and his wife Jennifer is the president of a Lutheran
college there.

Doug asked Mike to keep
in touch with John Brackett who is affiliated with the Ecumenical
Cursillo. Doug reported that Pastor George Kahl is very interested in
pursuing Cursillo movements in Norway and Sweden. The Finnish movement
is working on holding two weekends.

Western Montana and
Sonshine North (Dottie Schwartz) are also areas that would appreciate
some form of contact.

Mike will be going to
Salt Lake City in October and their people plan on attending National
next year.

Mike has sent information
to Mark Carnes concerning a pastor in Littleton, Colorado who is
interested in bringing Via de Cristo to that community. He asked for
our prayers for that situation.

Doug asked Pastor Dow if
he would be the Keynote Speaker for the convention next year. Pastor
Dow accepted.

Pastor Carroll said that
with tonight's information from Debbie and Mike he is ready to go and
will be getting it to the printer very soon.

Doug asked that Lucy
maintain the master database and send it to Pastor Carroll. Pastor
Carroll reported that the digital camera had been bought as well as the
program to put the issues on the net.

Oran wants Mark Carnes to
set up a palanca page and a Distribution Page with an order blank.

Doug asked that Lucy send
Oran a copy of the minutes so they can be posted on the Website.

Doug stated that he had
received the original signed constitution from Damascus, New York
Secretariat and will mail it to Lucy.

Cursillo
in Bolivia, Shel Groff-
We just attended two full days of Ultreyas here in La Paz celebrating
the fiftieth anniversary of Cursillo. Cursillos in the Catholic Church
began here seven years after the Cursillo began in Spain.

I gave them a challenge
asking them if they were willing to share it with Bolivian Lutherans
also. There was a thunderous applause.

It would cost about $1400
round trip and some costs for food and travel within the country, but
travel by land is cheap here. People could stay in local homes and we
have some space at the mission house free of charge. We would put on
two weekends and two or three nights of training the first cursillistas
here who would continue the program.

Conexiones
Volume 18, Number 1 Winter Edition February, 2000

Wanted:
E-Mail Addresses, Lucy Hightower -
We would like to have at least one good e-mail address from each
secretariat. Please send an e-mail to both of these addresses at the
same time, identifying it as "Email address for (NAME) on (SECRETARIAT
NAME) Secretariat": (Carroll Lang, Conexiones Editor) (Lucy Hightower,
Secretary)

Update
on NLS Activity, Doug Burrows -
We will be meeting at Eckerd College, a very lovely campus. Our program
this year will include seminars on:

# Legal
and financial issues of the secretariat

# Purpose
and role of the secretariat

# Team
formation and training

# Palanca
on the National level

# We
will also offer a forum on the subject of Spiritual Direction

In February I traveled to
Winter Park, Florida, to meet with the leaders of the Fourth Day
Movements. Dr. Randy Mullin and I met with the Catholic Cursillo,
Episcopal Cursillo, Kairos Prison Ministry, Presbyterian Cursillo, Tres
Dias, and Walk to Emmaus. The meeting was too short, there is so much
to learn from our brothers and sisters, that I could have stayed fro
more. We came home with new materials that will help in understanding
the movement and one another. I take my hat off to Randy, who's laid
fine groundwork for the interchange of ideas and help to one another.

Jesus
is Lord of the Harvest!, Mike Swecker
- Shel Groff, Here in Bolivia, the fields are ripe unto harvest, people
are really open to the Gospel. I am saddened to see firsthand much of
the harvest falling and being lost. False cults such as the Jehovah's
Witnesses and the Mormons are building expensive universities here in
Bolivia to gather in the harvest, but with a false gospel.

What
are the immediate needs?

! Prayer

! Spanish
speaking individuals who feel called to help with the Bolivia startup.

! Via
de Cristo materials in Spanish.

! Leader
& Church type contacts in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Latvia
who have participated in or would be a likely candidate for VdC.

! Leader
& Church type contacts in the Pacific Northwest. Particularly
Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon who have participated in or
would be a likely candidate for VdC.

! Prayer

P.S. We changed the name
to "Camino de Cristo" (which also means Way of Christ) at the
suggestion of Pastor Juan Fernandez. He is from La Paz and is pastor of
St. Martin's Lutheran Hispanic congregation that meets in First
Lutheran Church on 8th
& Maria in St. Paul. Juan felt that the name "Via de Cristo" is
associated with the Catholic Church here and would not be acceptable.

Minutes
of the NLS Mid-Year Meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida, Eckerd College,
December 4-5, 1999

Web
Site - The
committee generally feels that the site needs to be more user friendly
and would probably be more easily accessed if it were less graphic
intensive mainly due to the time it takes to open a graphic intensive
site. A map of the United States could possibly be a useful tool to
provide information according to states.

...consider what our
goals are for the web site. Conexiones needs to be on the website as
well.

Manuals
- Doug would like to see us develop a library similar to what the
Episcopal movement has available. Theirs is printed on 3 hole punched 5
½" by 8 ½" paper. This allows the user to order
revised sections of any new information without replacing other
sections. It would be nice if we had such a system and were able to
download sections from the web site.

Distribution
Center
- Doug reported that an official "Team Formation Manual" does not
exist. Apparently the information in the old team formation manual has
been combined with other information into the "Essentials" book. It
appears that the "Essentials" provides what is needed so we do not need
a separate team formation manual on the national level. Each local
secretariat, however, should own and be used the "Essentials" manual.

Service
Cards
- There was a general discussion about the lack of a Service Card in
connection with the new green card.

Treasurer's
Report -
The cash balance includes about $3,000 from the Distribution Center
about $4564 from the Michigan host committee, which amount includes
about $1000 from the Wisconsin host committee.

Doug reported that during
the year 2001, we will be celebrating the 20th
anniversary of the National Lutheran Secretariat.

Doug brought out the fact
that we need to get the Ultreya Manual published and introduced at the
1999 annual meeting by Ed Kutay.

Doug will contact Wayne
Ford in connection with the development of the Leadership Manual. He
will ask Wayne to have the prototype ready for the year 2000 meeting so
that it can be finalized by that committee and ready for distribution
at the year 2001 meeting.

Video
Committee - The
video taping at the annual meeting will be limited to specific events
specified by this committee and will most likely be handled by the host
committee.

Displays
at Annual meeting:

1. Booth with web site
available for persons to view on their own.

2. Display of crosses
available for sale.

3. NLS materials
available from the Distribution Center.

4. Display of tee shirts,
cups, sweat shirts for sale at cost (same as last meeting). A new item
will possibly be baseball caps. Mike moved that Doug be authorized to
spend up to $3500 to restock. Motion carried.

Board
Expenses - The
Host Committee will pay expenses for Keynote and Forum speakers. The
Host Committee and the NLS Board will split the cost of registration
and lodging for any Committee Chairperson or seminar presenter who
requests that his or her expenses be paid; in that event, the Board
will absorb the cost of the transportation.

Video
Tapes - There
will be no other authorized filming other than the Keynote talk, the
Forum, and the four seminars.

Outreach
-
Mike is working with Sheldon Graf concerning Bolivia. They are trying
to identify some Spanish speaking people to help. Both Via de Cristo
and Walk to Emmaus are working in the same direction in Latvia, but the
Emmaus community has not responded to Mike regarding joint efforts.

Pastor Dow reported that
somewhere in Louisiana a group had apparently held a weekend. He will
try to find out who and contact them.

Conexiones
Volume 18, Number 2 Special Palanca Edition May, 2000

Jottings
from Our Spiritual Director, Rev. Richard Dow
- ...phone calls I've gotten pertaining to who can serve as an SD on a
weekend. We decided that qualifications included (a) serving with a
Lutheran SD, (b) being ordained to formal ministry by a recognized
denomination, and (c) having someone else in the movement attest to the
person's high character all add up to a highly acceptable choice for SD
in special cases. Count me as one of the many, many Lutheran SD's who
will tell you that they eagerly look forward to serving with clergy of
other denominations. Jesus prayed for oneness in his church in John 17
- those prayers are constantly answered on Via de Cristo weekends.

But, there's that great
word, "Clergy." Most denominations set aside and consecrate qualified
and called people to forms of ministry in addition to clergy. Are they
OK for weekends? Yes, as long as the above criteria have been met.
Encourage these valued servants to serve within the parameters of their
calling, too. Can they lead a communion service, for example? Welcome
these people with their special gifts.

Help
with the Harvest, Mike Swecker
- We need your prayers, team participation and financial support. As
previously reported, by the grace of God, Via de Cristo is going to
Bolivia. At this time we are looking at mid-summer of 2001 in La Paz,
Bolivia. We are considering applicants for this team. Applicants need
to:

< have
a solid understanding of the Via de Cristo fundamentals.

< speak
Spanish

< smile
in any language!

Conference
Call of NLS, February 27, 2000

Outreach,
Mike Swecker -
Louisiana - Mike reported that we have been approached by LA. They have
been participating with folks in Texas and are not interested in
starting their own secretariat.

Norway - There is ongoing
contact by e-mail. There are six or seven interested persons.

Bolivia - There are
persons in Bolivia who are willing to come to the United States in
order to attend a Spanish speaking weekend.

Pacific Northwest - This
is an area where VdC might begin to expand.

Montana - A weekend may
be happening soon.

Doug reported that New
York has held its first weekend and that A-OK should be holding their
weekends very soon.

The chairperson for
rewriting the rollo booklets has asked to step down. Five rewrites have
been completed and the committee is meeting in Ohio on March 11 to
continue work.

Doug reported that at a
meeting of the Fourth Day Movements he learned that the Catholic
Movement has completely rewritten their materials.

Doug wondered what the
possibilities might be for getting TEC started under NLS and suggested
that perhaps this is something for Outreach (Mike) to be thinking about.

Conference
Call of NLS, April 30, 2000

Lay
Talk Revision - Doug
reported that Karen Schneider is still functioning as chairperson but
wants to step down from the responsibility of writing.

Treasurer,
Phil Lustig - As
the teleconference calling will probably run around $1600 this year, he
encouraged the board to look at options in teleconferencing via the
Internet.

Leadership
Training Material Committee - The
first draft of the four-hour course has been mailed to Chuck Simmons
for review and editing. The eight-hour course is not very far along.

Outreach,
Mike Swecker - We
did receive a response from the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
stating that their schedules would not accommodate us this summer.

The Latvia Via de Cristo
is moving slowly ahead.

The Bolivia Via de Cristo
startup is well underway with leaders from that country scheduled to
attend a Spanish speaking weekend in Florida in November.

I've just returned from a
couple of days in Lafayette, Louisiana where I met with a group of 25
cursillistas (including 2 pastors) to discuss a VdC startup in their
state.

Arizona is in the process
of changing its organizational structure from Cursillo to Via de Cristo.

NLS Meeting #23 July 27-30, 2000

Eckerd College St. Petersburg, Florida

Conexiones
Volume 18, Number 3 Annual Meeting Edition October, 2000

What
can we do for you?, Doug Burrows -
In Florida we received outstanding presentations by people dedicated to
their work for Christ. We learned of legal and financial issues facing
the secretariat presented by Diane Purcell our new NLS treasurer. Tracy
Ziemke presented us with the purpose and roll of the secretariat. We
heard about Palanca on a National level from Mark Carnes and of Team
Formation & Training from Dave Saggiser. In these presentations
we were teaching our attendees to be more knowledgeable of what we are
about.

Rev. Frank Langholf of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America came to us to speak on the
subject of Spiritual Direction. This subject is confused with the role
of the Pastor or with the role of the Spiritual Director on the
weekend. Pastor Langholf was able to explain how the Spiritual Director
aids us in focusing our spiritual attention on God's presence in our
lives. How through prayer and meditation we can recognize how God is
working in our lives.

All of these
presentations were video taped and will be available to the community
from our distribution center.

Norway,
A Proposal, Lee Sather -
Here is a proposal I sent to Norway - I want Via de Cristo to be a
major component in Norway at the USA Congregational Life Conference,
June 4-8, 2001 in Sakendahl, Norway. Excitement is growing regarding
the proposed conference for church leaders! Our goal is to jointly
explore creative, effective ministries that bring vitality and joy to
the congregational life. The following outline is a planning tool,
which includes resources (to this date) from staff, lay leaders and
friends of Trinity Lutheran Church, Stillwater, Minnesota. Teams would
collaborate with leaders and teams from Norway.

Outreach
- Bolivia is sending representatives to Florida and the Spanish
materials are ready.

The bishop of Norway is
not interested in pursuing Via de Cristo at this time.

Doug expressed interest
in developing the movement in the northwest - Seattle/Portland area. He
suggested that there might be a push to get a group together for an
organizational meeting that Mike could possibly attend to help them get
organized.

NLS
Shirts
- Doug reported that both women's and men's polo shirts will be
available this year. There are also different colors.

Taping
- Tim Johnson will be handling the video taping.

Only six events are to be
taped: Keynote, Forum, and the four seminars. The tapes are to be given
to Dick Emery before he leaves the meeting.

Other
Business
- There is a Methodist Church in Texas that has taken the name, "Via de
Cristo Methodist Church." They also have a website address, "Via de
Cristo.com."

The next order of
business was the official seating of the delegates by Lucy Hightower,
Secretary. A total of 29 secretariats were represented.

Doug Burrows then
recognized three newly formed secretariats and introduced
representatives for each secretariat who briefly explained how each of
their secretariats had gotten started. They were as follows: Cheryl
Bothwell, A-OK; Kristin Thralls, Utah; and Steve Dubois, Louisiana.

Vice
President, Administration
- Debbie explained how the seminars and committee work would run
concurrently and that each of the seminars would be presented twice.

Vice
President of Outreach
- Mike Swecker showed us a banner that had been sent to us from Bolivia
and asked that we pray for their planned first weekend.

Indiana is playing a role
in developing the movement in Latvia.

Breakout sessions -
Topics for the discussion are, "How does your community do this in
preparation for Friday?" "What was uncomfortable? And "How did you grow
from it?"

The pastors dialogue
session will be meeting with Pastor Langholf during lunch. They will be
discussing the difference between a Spiritual Director on the weekend
and Spiritual Direction in the Fourth Day, a distinction that Pastor
Langholf made clear during this morning's forum.

There will be an offering
taken at the worship tonight. It will be designated for NLS Outreach.

Use the schedule as
printed in the notebooks; the schedule printed in the daily newsletter
is incorrect.

Committee
Reports

Constitution
and Bylaws -
The committee also intends to review the entire Constitution and Bylaws
during the coming six months.

Lay
Talk Revision -
Karen Schneider reported that the committee has finished editing the
Sunday talks. The "Christian Community in Action" talk has been given a
new title: "Developing Christian Community within Our Environments."

The last two talks (on
Sunday) have been kept separate in order to give more exposure to the
Via de Cristo method of group reunion and ultreya during the weekend.

Their goal is to finish
the talks by next year's meeting.

Leader's
Training Materials
- Chuck Simmons reported that both Courses 101 and 201 have been
printed and one copy of each will be provided each secretariat in
attendance. They are to be considered "work in progress" and subject to
change.

Chuck then made a motion
that the NLS distribute the manuscripts asking the local secretariats
to use them in team and community training. Further, he asked for
feedback from those secretariats so that a revised edition may be
published in May of 2001.

The motion was carried by
voice vote, and the materials will be distributed.

Publications
- Pastor Lang presented a document, which was also distributed,
outlining the process for publishing an NLS document.

There were questions from
the floor asking why other documents produced at annual meetings had
not been printed for distribution. Other comments pointed to the fact
that, although we do want our printed materials to be consistent and
look good, sometimes the need to get the information out is more
important than whether it conforms exactly to the printing procedures
and specifications.Finance:

I. To direct the Board to
instruct the Newsletter Editor to make the Newsletter

a. Available on-line for
downloading, and

b. To notify, via e-mail,
the current recipients who have indicated their desire to receive the
Newsletter electronically that it is available on the web. (Carried)

2. To direct the Board to
instruct the Web Master to make products (merchandise, crosses and
publications) available for order on line. (Carried)

3. Direct the Board to
move with all haste to create a process for conference calls to be
conducted on line. (Carried)

4. A Corporate Resolution
be drawn up naming Diane Purcell Treasurer of the National Lutheran
Secretariat, effective August 1, 2000, and authorizing Diane Purcell to
open accounts on behalf of the National Lutheran Secretariat. (Carried)

The proposed budget for
2000-2001 is $20,935.

Other
Business
- Pastor Dow and Phil Lustig, who are both leaving the Board, were
recognized and each was given a gift on behalf of the NLS.

Business
Meeting of Executive Board, St. Petersburg, Florida, Sunday Morning,
July 30, 2000

Publications
- Doug asked Lucy to check the 1996 minutes in regard to the music
document that was presented at that meeting. Doug also asked that Lucy
follow up with Chuck Simmons to make sure that he gets feedback from
the various secretariats on the Leadership materials that were
distributed yesterday. After final changes have been made, the
information should be sent on disk to Kari Sheppard who is actually the
Publications Chairperson. She will handle the final formatting and
printing. These documents should be finished and published by July,
2001.

Merchandise
on Website
- Doug will get with Oran about putting such things as shirts, cups,
crosses, etc., on the website. Although we are not equipped to handle
direct purchases on-line, a prompt e-mail site link can be set up to
facilitate ordering.

Budget
- Attention was called to the fact that the president's budget is
probably insufficient. It actually ran over $1200 this year.

Conexiones
Volume 18, Number 4 Winter Edition December, 2000

He
Will Raise You Up, Jerry Vehrs and Don Merdink
- This year's meeting promises to be extra special because it will
celebrate the past 20 years of history of the NLS. Because this is a
celebration of 20 wonderful years of the NLS, the format for these
sessions will be presentations that will celebrate the accomplishments
and ministry of the past 20 years rather than the usual educational
forums and seminars.

From
President Burrows
- our mid-year meeting was held at Augsburg College on December 2-4 to
prepare for the 20th
anniversary of the National Lutheran Secretariat. Our host community
has been hard at work preparing the way for a great meeting next year.
Our plans are to look at our origins, our growth to date, and to our
future as a fourth day movement. Past NLS President Dr. Randy Mullin is
spearheading this effort and we look forward to a great celebration

We are also asking for
secretariats to consider hosting our Annual Meeting in 2003.

Phil Lustig has
undertaken the responsibility of Nominations Committee chair

And just a short note to
acknowledge Mike Swecker and his sister Lori for the groundwork they
laid to bring Via de Cristo to Bolivia.

2001:
A Faith Odyssey, Mike SweckerBolivia
- Will hold its first weekends in July of 2001. Financial contributions
are still needed for this effort, and can be sent to the NLS Treasurer,
Diane Purcell, 8303 Ingleside Ave. S., Cottage Grove, MN 55016. Please
write "Bolivia Outreach" in the memo area of your check. Other prayers,
palanca, and inquiries can be directed to: Bolivia Outreach Chairperson
Lori Kemper or Bolivia Missionaries, Shel and Sharon Groff

Latvia
- Plans are moving forward to hold weekends in late 2001. Prayer,
palanca and other inquiries may be directed to: Dave and Linda Erdman

Norway
- The Church leaders are not able to meet with us at this time. We will
approach them again at a later date.

Hamilton,
Montana - DeColores from the
Bitterroot Valley of Western Montana! Dale and Clairice Brady with help
from the Yellowstone secretariat will be ready to hold their first
weekend in March 2001.

Lafayette,
Louisiana - These folks are
really on fire to hold their first weekends in April of 2001. It's been
exciting to watch this community grow! Saline Botteron is the contact

Seattle,
Washington - The Lord is doing
great things in the Seattle area! This community is just forming and
already has enough cursillistas to host a weekend. Steve percival is
our contact there and would appreciate your prayers

Hartford,
Connecticut - There are a number
of Cursillista transplants that are in this area. Kirt Danielson is
helping in the formation of a community in Hartford

NLS
Executive Board Conference Call Minutes, October 29, 2000

Treasurer's
Report
- The feeling of the Board was to continue investing in certificates of
deposit. A motion was made that Diane be given permission to use her
discretion. Approved.

Minnesota will provide
coverage (taping, etc.) At the July 2001 meeting. It was noted that the
Video Fund was originally created to help with outreach, i.e., provide
a new outreach tape. Films made at NLS meetings should not be financed
out of the Video Fund. Doug is to make Tim aware of the Minnesota
plans.

Outreach
- Mike reported that Bolivia
is moving along with plans for their first weekends in 2001. Norway
has been in conversation with ELCA in Chicago. The church there is in a
state of transition as tax support is being withdrawn. Louisiana
expects to hold their first weekends in April. Pastor Dow and some
friends from Walk to Emmaus will be helping. Steve DuBois (their
National Delegate) will be the men's rector. Pacific
Northwest - Mike has sent a
start-up packet to a group in the Portland/Seattle area and expects to
be in continued communication with them.

Music
Document
- Lucy asked if the Board would honor the directive given in 1996 to
publish this document in booklet form. Since Lucy has a copy of the
original on disk, she was asked to send this to Pastor Carroll along
with a hard copy so that he can proceed with the printing of this
document.

Leadership
Materials
- All secretariats were asked to "field test" these materials and
report to Chuck Simmons, committee chairperson, by April 2001. Doug
asked Pastor Carroll to touch base with Chuck and Kari to see how
things are going.

One problem mentioned was that Conexiones is
not getting out on time.

Other
Business -
Doug reported that The Constitution and By-Laws committee continues
their work under Fred Schneider; the Lay Talk Revision Committee has
held a meeting and their work continues; Phil Lustig has offered to
help cursillistas who relocate make contact with other cursillistas in
their new location. Doug reported that Randy Mullin, past president,
would attend the December meeting. Proposed speakers are Tom Sarg, Ed
Simonsen and Gene Hermeier. Since the next annual meeting will be more
like a celebration, the schedule will be somewhat different. There will
be more presentations and less personal involvement.

Doug said that he had
received an e-mail from Michael A. Sahl stating that we will be
required to have liability insurance for the 2002 meeting.

Music
Booklet -
Pastor Carroll reported that he would have this ready for distribution
at the annual meeting in July. Lucy called attention to Motion 2 made
by the Music Committee at the 1996 meeting, which called for the
inclusion and distribution of a document containing information
relative to Copyright law. She will fax this information to Pastor
Carroll.

Trademark
- Doug asked if anyone knew of anything published under the name of VdC
only.

A Methodist church in
Scottsdale, AZ has named their church the Via de Cristo Methodist
Church; they have a website called viadecristo.com.

While there may be no
immediate harm in what this church is doing, it was felt that, in order
to protect our trademark from any future infringement, we need to take
some kind of action. Doug proposed that we charge this church a fee of
$1.00 per year and require them to include a link to our website on
their website.

Outreach
- Minnesota is sending somewhere between five and six thousand dollars
to support the Bolivia movement. Sweden and Norway have "officially"
turned us down. Dave Erdman and a group from Indiana are working toward
developing Via de Cristo in Latvia.

Planning
for the 2001 Annual Meeting -
Randy distributed a report containing general plans and outlines for
the annual meeting. He would like to involve some past presidents in
the presentations. As this is to be a celebration of the twentieth year
of NLS, the presentations this year will primarily be a celebration of
our history and will replace the forum and seminars.

Doug said that he would
like for us to use the LBW for the Saturday Evening service. Debbie
mentioned that many people had made favorable comments about the
commissioning service held on Thursday of last year's meeting.

Video taping of all
events will be handled entirely by those Minnesota people designated by
the Host committee. The raw footage is what will be duplicated.

We will need an emcee for
the Ultreya. Ellie Henning was suggested.

The presentation on
Saturday will be done by the Board with break-out groups.

Treasurer's
Report
- Diane gave a copy of the current state registration and tax return to
Lucy to file with the official records. Diane asked for authorization
to open an account with Strong Investment Funds. This fund currently
pays 6.74% interest per annum and has 100% liquidity. She can
electronically transfer funds into the checking account. ...there are
to be two designated signers: either Diane as treasurer or Doug Burrows
as president. Carried

Ultreya
- Presentation by board and encouragement to persevere. Break-out
groups will follow with use of questions.

Don said that dinner will
be an agape meal, Minnesota style. After the serenade, all-including
serenaders-will go to chapel. There will be a traditional, full worship
service. We hope to have a procession of banners from various
secretariats and would like to include a Processional Cross and Bible
in the procession.

Debbie explained the cost
sharing plan for invited participants. Tom Sarg, Gene Hermeier, and Ed
Simonsen will be the responsibility of NLS-both transportation and
registration.

Possible dignitaries that
might be welcomed include the president of Augsburg College, a former
governor who is a cursillista, and the bishop of Minnesota.

Bolivia
Connection
- Cursillistas, Shel and Sharon Groff, are in their 5th
year of mission work in Bolivia. They are also the Rectors for the
first Bolivia weekends that will occur this summer. Excitement is
building and plans continue to unfold as the Spirit leads this
enthusiastic couple to share God's message of grace in the communities
they've befriended. We praise the Lord and are greatly thankful for the
participation and the palanca that is already showing up in many forms
to support this effort.

Minutes
of NLS Conference Call, February 4, 2001

Outreach
- Louisiana expects to hold its first weekend in April. Many
cursillistas from Texas will be helping them. Montana will be holding
theirs in March.

Mike voiced his opinion
that the Board might consider the possibility of hiring either a part
of full time Coordinator/Director.

Website
-
Doug has been working with Oran on the problem of publishing the
newsletter on the website. Oran has been critically ill; consequently,
he has not been able to work on the problem. His health has improved at
the moment and he is looking for a format that can be published.

Doug would like to see
all materials in a format that will fit into a three-ring binders. He
wants pastor Carroll to convert the hard copies to 8x11 format.

Other
Business -
In reference to an e-mail from Randy Mullin regarding the Authentic
Three-Day Weekend and the use of the term Cursillo, Doug said that he
would like to see the Authentic Three-Day Weekend wrapped up and
published. In regard to the term Cursillo, he said that he will be in
contact with Tom Sarg concerning how sensitive we need to be about the
use of this term.

Revision of six of the
lay talks will be ready for final review in July. The committee wants
to come in on Tuesday of that week in order to accomplish the necessary
work.

Comments on the
Leadership Training Materials are due from the various secretariats by
April 1, 2001. Doug asked pastor Carroll to call Chuck to see about
arrangements for printing the final copies. He also asked the Pastor
Carroll proceed with arranging the final printing of the Essentials
Manual. Doug asked Pastor Carroll to let him know if he needs any help
with these two projects.

Administration
-
Debbie reported that Fred Schneider is working on the constitution
revision.